


Partners in Crime

by cassie_star_12 (corvus_ace)



Series: ShuAke Week 2020 [6]
Category: Persona 5, Persona 5 Royal
Genre: Akechi Goro Lives, Day 6, Emotionally Deep Discussion, M/M, Shuake Week 2020, and cognitive akechi's death i guess, certain parts might not make sense if you haven't seen it, cognitive akechi gets a lil more but not by much, crow is really stubborn, crow's mental health might be a little worse than we thought, for a hot second i forgot what shido's palace safe rooms looked like, it's not graphic though, major character death only refers to cognitive akechi, multiple references to the p5 anime, no beta we die like okumura, nobody else dies, once again not very shuake-y and i'm sorry, phantom thieves get maybe two lines total, rated teen and up for swearing, so is joker though, two people get shot in a canon-compliant way, which is canon-compliant anyway so who cares
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-23
Updated: 2020-11-23
Packaged: 2021-03-10 06:56:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,866
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27679073
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/corvus_ace/pseuds/cassie_star_12
Summary: ShuAke Week 2020 - Day 6 - Sins / Partnership / Per aspera ad astraWhen Crow shoots the emergency switch on the wall, Joker barely manages to leap through the watertight bulkhead door in time, much to Crow's surprise and irritation. After fighting off the cognitive Akechi and defeating the Shadows, Joker brings Crow to a safe room, where they have an Emotionally Deep Discussion and resolve their issues.
Relationships: Akechi Goro & Kurusu Akira, Akechi Goro & Persona 5 Protagonist, Akechi Goro/Kurusu Akira, Akechi Goro/Persona 5 Protagonist
Series: ShuAke Week 2020 [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2016971
Comments: 2
Kudos: 71





	Partners in Crime

**Author's Note:**

> I think these just keep getting progressively worse
> 
> please read the end notes if you don't normally

“Yes...! That’s the you our captain wishes to see.”

Crow’s grip tightened on the gun; the Phantom Thieves looked more nervous by the second. The cognitive Akechi Goro grinned, a sharp thing that only served to fuel Crow’s fury.

“Oh, don’t misunderstand,” Crow said sharply. “You’re the one who will disappear!”

He whirled around and shot the cognitive in the side, then turned back to where the Thieves were standing and took careful aim at something past them---

The cognitive growled and fired off a shot; Crow felt it hit his side---

Joker, realizing what he was about to do, stepped forward and said, “Crow, wait!”---

Crow pulled the trigger, hitting the emergency switch on the wall.

An automated voice said, “The watertight bulkhead door is now closing. Please evacuate the area immediately.”

Crow fell to his knees on the engine room floor. Amidst shouts from the Phantom Thieves, Joker dove forward just as the door began to close, one hand gripping his silver dagger and the other raised to his domino mask. Crow looked down at his side, distantly aware that blood was soaking through his suit, and hoped the Thieves had stopped Joker before he could reach the door.

After all, Crow would die here---but Joker didn’t have to.

The door shut with a harsh  _ clang, _ and Crow looked up again.

Joker grinned and raised his pistol.

“What are you  _ doing, _ you idiot?!” Crow hissed, surprised and irritated at Joker’s nerve. “You’re going to get yourself  _ killed _ if you keep doing stupid shit like this!”

“I won’t get killed,” Joker said confidently.

Then he fired three shots into the cognitive Akechi---one in the chest, one in the leg, and one in the head.

The cognitive disappeared with a twisted scream; the Shadows that the cognitive had summoned transformed into their true forms and prepared to attack Joker; the Thief smirked and lunged forward with his dagger.

Even without using his Personas, Joker was truly a force to be reckoned with. He tore through the Shadows as easily as if they were made of paper, twisting away from their retaliation with the deft skills of someone who had been at this for longer than a mere eight months. The Shadows were no match for him.

Crow wondered why he’d ever thought he could be a match for Joker, either.

The Shadows were gone within two minutes.

“Much better,” Joker said, stowing away his dagger. Then he walked over to Crow and said, “Hey, can you stand or no?”

“Of course I can,” Crow muttered, but he was swiftly proved wrong: the moment he tried, pain burst from the bullet wound in his side, and he collapsed with a gasp.

“Oh, Crow....” Joker shook his head, but he still had a hint of a smile on his face. “Come on.”

He threaded his right arm under Crow’s left and wrapped it around his torso, careful to keep it above the wound, then pulled Crow into a standing position.

“What the hell are you---” Crow started to say, but he was cut off by his own hiss of pain as he tried to take a step forward.

“I’m gonna take you to a safe room,” Joker replied, as if it was the simplest thing in the world. To him, maybe it was. “I can give you some medicine---I’m really low on SP after that fight, so I can’t heal you with one of my Personas. Then we need to talk.”

“...look, Joker---”

“Nope, no protests! We’re gonna get you healed up, and then we can have a nice discussion about some of the crazy shit you said earlier.”

And before Crow could argue further, Joker began leading the way to the closest safe room.

Much to his embarrassment, Crow found himself leaning heavily on Joker as they walked. Whether it was the blood loss or just regular exhaustion---or both---he couldn’t be sure, but he was losing strength, and Joker was surprisingly steady. The Thief only moved as fast as Crow could handle, further solidifying Crow’s cognition (ha) of him as an overly kind, supportive, and just incredibly naïve person. He also kept an eye out for any Shadows patrolling their way; fortunately, they only ran into one, and Crow managed to pull himself together long enough to draw his ray gun with his right hand and shoot it before it could attack them.

Joker made a small noise of surprise at that, but before he could comment on it, Crow holstered the ray gun and muttered, “Just keep going.”

It took a little while, but eventually they made it to a safe room. Joker carefully pushed the doors open and helped Crow into one of the cushioned chairs, then went back over and shut the doors again. Crow slumped in the chair, suddenly overwhelmed by a wave of tiredness.

“Here,” Joker said, holding something out. He must have pulled it out of his jacket while Crow hadn’t been paying attention. “Eat this. It should at least bring you back up to half health. Most of the healing items I was carrying got used in our battle. You put up quite the fight, by the way.”

“...thanks?” Crow said, swallowing the medicine without a second thought. He realized belatedly that he probably shouldn’t have trusted it so easily---but he couldn’t help it. He was always too trusting when it came to Joker. And besides, just a few moments after consuming it, he felt a warm, soothing power flow through him, restoring some of his health.

“Now that  _ that’s _ taken care of,” Joker said, leaning against the wall, “do you have any questions for me?”

Crow frowned. “I’m sorry, what?”

“You shared a lot of your secrets with us just now,” Joker reminded him. “It’s unfair of me to keep things from you after you’ve been so honest.”

...right. He  _ had _ shouted a lot of stuff back in the engine room. To be honest, he didn’t remember most of it; some of it had been after he’d made himself go psychotic, and he almost never remembered what happened when he did that. Granted, he’d only done it a few times, but regardless.

Sighing, Crow said, “I’m sure you’re aware of this already, but when I asked you to become my partner, I already knew you were a Phantom Thief.”

Joker raised an eyebrow. “Oracle had mentioned something to that effect, after we figured you out. She said you knew almost from the beginning.”

“I did,” Crow said. “If I wasn’t evil, and I had asked you that, and you hadn’t been a Phantom Thief...what would you have said?”

“Yes,” Joker answered immediately. “I would have said yes, without hesitation.”

“I see. Then...your status as a Phantom Thief was truly the only thing keeping you from accepting?”

“Mm-hmm. We’re rivals, after all,” he said. “I wouldn’t have passed up a chance for us to become partners, too. Maybe if you asked me again sometime, after all this Phantom Thievery is over, I’d say yes.”

“Maybe I would ask again,” Crow said. “Assuming I would live that long, anyway.”

Joker’s expression went from fairly relaxed to extremely worried in the span of about half a second.

“Please don’t say stuff like that,” Joker said. “You  _ will _ survive. I’ll make sure of it myself.”

Crow laughed, but it held no humor. “You were serious, then. Back in the engine room. When you said it didn’t matter what I’d done, because I could always restart.”

“Of course I was serious,” Joker said, and he honestly looked a little offended that Crow had believed otherwise. “You can try again. Become someone you’ll be proud of. You can fight for  _ true _ justice.”

“How can I fight for true justice? My sins far outweigh any good left in me.”

“I don’t believe that, and I don’t think you do either,” the thief said. “Have you ever heard the phrase ‘per aspera ad astra’?”

“Isn’t that Latin for ‘through hardship to the stars’?” Crow said, surprised by the sudden mention of the phrase.

“Exactly. It’s basically saying that whenever challenges come your way, you can get through them, and eventually you’ll reach what you’re dreaming of. It’s a nice phrase. Anyways, I think it can apply to you.”

“...you lost me.”

Joker shrugged. “Just a thought. You’ve made it through so much already, Crow---more than anyone else I know, that’s for sure. And you’ve become so much stronger because of it. Starting over might be hard as hell, but I’m certain you can do it. I’ll be beside you all the way.”

“You’re too eager to support a murderer,” Crow muttered.

“I’m going to tell you something,” Joker said firmly, “and you’d better listen, because I won’t say it twice.”

Once he was sure he had Crow’s full attention, he took a deep breath.

“I didn’t want any of them to live,” he admitted quietly. “All the Palace rulers whose hearts we’ve changed so far. I wanted them to die for what they’d done. But I had people to help me, to keep me in check. They helped me accept those darker thoughts as a part of myself. You didn’t have that. But you can, now. We’ll support you.  _ I’ll _ support you. I can help you---but you have to want to help yourself first.”

Crow sighed. He knew Joker was right, just as much as he knew Joker was being fully honest about wanting to help him.

“I don’t know,” Crow finally replied. “My stupid revenge plan has been the only thing I’ve cared about for the past two years. My hatred kept me going. Without that, I have no direction, no anchor.”

“Let me be your anchor,” Joker said. “Let me help you the way you’ve helped me. We can take down Shido. We can end this conspiracy. We’ve survived everything the world has thrown at us so far; we can survive this too. Our power is so much greater than Shido’s---than  _ anyone’s _ power, in fact. If you and I were partners, nothing could stand in our way. We can achieve  _ true _ justice, together.”

“...through hardship to the stars, huh?” Crow murmured. “You think we can make it?”

“I know we can make it,” Joker answered with a grin. “We’re the wild cards, after all.”

“The other Thieves won’t accept me.”

“Of course they will. They said it themselves. Have a little faith.”

Crow sighed.

“Very well,” he said. “I will join you. But first....”

He reached into his suit and pulled something out, then tossed it to Joker; the thief caught it easily.

“I think it’s about time for that particular item to be returned to you,” Crow said.

Joker glanced down at the black king chess piece, then looked back up, surprised. “Really?”

“Really,” Crow said with a half-smile. “You’ve finally bested me, after all. Now, I suppose we should meet up with your friends, yes?”

“Probably,” Joker said. “Hey...thanks. For, you know, not just shooting me in the back when I jumped through the door. And for not letting that Shadow attack us.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Crow said. “Let’s go.”

**Author's Note:**

> some personal stuff went down last night, which is why this work is a day late. A dear friend of mine wasn't in a great place, so I was trying my best to support them, and then I couldn't focus enough to finish this because I was so busy worrying about them. I also just didn't have much inspiration for this one. I might rewrite it later to make it something I can actually be proud of. We'll see.
> 
> I didn't like the way this one turned out but let me know in the comments what you think


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